Michel André Kervaire (26 April 1927 – 19 November 2007) was a French mathematician who made significant contributions to topology and algebra.
He was the first to show the existence of topological n-manifolds with no differentiable structure (using the Kervaire invariant), and (with John Milnor) computed the number of exotic spheres in dimensions greater than four, known as Kervaire–Milnor groups.
The solution of the Kervaire invariant problem was announced by Michael Hopkins in Edinburgh on 21 April 2009.
After completing high school in France, Kervaire pursued his studies at ETH Zurich (1947–1952), receiving a Ph.D. in 1955.
His thesis, entitled Courbure intégrale généralisée et homotopie, was written under the direction of Heinz Hopf and Beno Eckmann.